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Spring Mememberies

Chica doesn’t talk about her Memembery Book anymore, but I still think that I need one. Here’s the spring 2015 edition…

1. In March, I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. My time was right under two hours, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. Two of my favorite mememberies from that weekend include biking to the start in the dark with Jay and seeing my sweet family on the course twice. While I was there, I mapped out my racing and training plan for the next six months or so. I’ve got 4 races on the calendar: XTERRA Richmond in June, Percival’s Island Five Miler in July, Virginia 10 Miler in September, and the Richmond Marathon in November. I am SO enjoying the training right now.

2. Each year our fourth graders go on an overnight field trip to an outdoor education camp. This year we tried out a new location, W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center, and we loved it! We went canoeing, fishing, tried out archery, held snakes, made s’mores by the campfire, practiced using a compass, and learned how to start a fire without matches. I have three favorite mememberies from our time there….an early morning run with two mommas, playing adults vs. kids soccer, and a hilarious dinner conversation about the birds and the bees chickens and puppies. Ask me sometime about the unfortunate consequences of having an OB-GYN doc for a mom. 🙂

3. Thanks to a too-good-to-pass-up Groupon deal, our family of four took a quick Spring Break trip to DC. We stayed in Tyson’s Corner and took the Metro into the city two different days. On our first day there we went to the new air & space museum and visited a friend’s church for his Saturday evening service. On Sunday we toured the zoo, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, and checked out the Building Museum. Monday was monument day, and we made quite the trek: Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial. We ate a very tired lunch at McDonald’s across from the White House then headed home. A few of my favorite mememberies were watching Chica learn how to read the Metro map, a paper airplane contest in the air & space museum, and the gift from Jay of a free hour to sip sangria and read in the hotel restaurant.

4. For her birthday, grandma gifted Chica with a weekend at Mom & Me at Eagle Eyrie. We met my friend Stephanie and her daughter Gracie there. Chica had a fabulous time, and I had fun watching her have fun. I’m not sure what she would offer as her favorite part, but I enjoyed packing shoeboxes, eating ice cream, visiting with Stephanie, and just having a chance to focus on one kid.

5. We spent Mother’s Day in Richmond with my mom. It was delightful. Saturday morning I got to go on a long trail run on the Buttermilk Trail. After my run I took several laps around the South of the James Farmer’s Market in Forest Hill Park. The rest of the time we mostly rested and cooked. I used this weekend as an excuse to try out two new recipes: stuffed shells and spinach salad. They were keepers, and I have repeated both once since that weekend. A few more mememberies from that weekend include an early morning walk with my mom, fishing with the kids and Grandma on the dock, and a brief photo shoot with Jay. He wanted me to try to capture a new head shot he could use for work and school:

6. The other major event for that weekend was applying for college. What the what!?! I know….as if two kids, a job, a husband, a house, and marathon training were not enough, I’ve decided to start working on my masters. Woohoo! I’m going to working on a M.A. in Mathematics Education (K-6) from Western Governors University. If all goes well with my admissions interview this week, I start July 1. I can’t wait, actually. Here’s my excited-but-whattheheckhaveigotteninto face:

7. The very next weekend brought a long awaited visit from my college friend, Sarah-Anne. She arrived the day of my final SOL, so I was able to take off the next day to spend with her and three other college friends in Richmond. Perhaps my favorite part of her visit is that life just continued to happen ’round here, and she got to be a part of it. Doing dishes, packing lunches, going for weekend long runs, hanging out with my momma….it was fun to do all of those things together. I felt blessed to be able to do Friday kid-free so that I could soak in the sweetness of my friends’ kids instead of worrying about mine. Also, Saturday morning SAL and I returned to the same farmer’s market from the weekend before. My mom gave us each $20 to spend, and we eeked every cent out of it…goat cheese, quinoa bowl, ripe strawberries, fresh juice, crepe, homemade granola bar, and snap peas. Yum.

8. We were double blessed with cross country guests that weekend. Uncle Justin and Aunt Rachel came in from California, and we were able to celebrate the upcoming birth of the latest baby Proffitt. At some point during the weekend Bubba caught wind of the fact that there was a baby growing in Rachel’s belly and asked, “Can I pet it?” I think that story is going to get a lot of miles! Chica and I thoroughly enjoyed the baby shower together. We so can’t wait to meet Baby Proffitt!

9. My kids really rocked their SOL tests. I am so proud of them. As promised, they were rewarded with extra recess, popsicles, and the privilege of pieing me. Here’s the video of me getting pied for your viewing pleasure….

10. And finally, this past week Jay and I treated four fun fourth graders to an afternoon of Science & S’mores. This was a silent auction idea that we dreamed up for our spring carnival. We microwaved ivory soap, made everyone’s favorite non-Newtonian fluid, played with snap circuits, attempted a popsicle stick chain reaction, and…best of all…played with dry ice to our hearts’ content.

Since we never really got the popsicle thing to work at school, we of course had to try it again at home:

11. I was going to stop at 10 mememberies, but I found this picture in my phone as I was looking at others. It was too good to pass up. Bubba insisted on wearing his bowtie to school twice this week. He would have worn it a third day, but he ran out of clean polo shirts. He’s convinced that button down shirts need neckties, not bowties. I’m certain he won’t stop asking about it until he gets one. Funny guy.